Two weeks ago at the Knoxville Fishing Show my son persuaded me to spend 25 bucks on a "Trout Magnate" kit, video and spool of their special 2 pound line.

Okay so laugh if you want.... fortunately my life long fishing buddies in Maine will not find out.

My son claims the trout magnate "system" catches trout in moving water like crazy and after watching the DVD that included a TWRA biologist (Habanera?) fishing in Gatlinburg with them I must agree it works extremely well.

They don't look like anything more than a rubber grub with a split tail and ribbed body on a weighted jig hook and they come in all kinds of crazy colors.... nothing special about them other than they kick along the bottom and must look like food or stimulate some kind of reckless response. not certain.

It seems to me that the closest thing to them a fly fisher would tie would be a cone head wholley bugger in hot pink or chartruese.

So I seriously doubt I will ever tie one onto a spinning outfit and head to g-burg but I will be trying to find some fuscia marabou to imitate a trout magnate ASAP.

While we would all love to think that trout do most of their feeding in the film or just below.... Shawn's awesome videos actually show that trout hang much lower than I ever imagined and do most of their feeding just above the bottom.

I will tie my version on the same size hooks, tie a marabou tail and then wrap the body with the remaining marabou and tie off behind a cone head likely no palmered hackle..... this I think would be the feather equivalent of the rubbah trout magnate.

Funny thing; Last night I compared the TM jig head to other hooks and it appears size 10... the jig weight seemed similar to a size 3/16 black titanium bead... the little rubber split tail body is virtually weightless.

When it comes to total weight this would be throwable under a decent size indicator with a five weight!

Moral dilemna.... is this poor form?

Time to slightly downsize a unique "fly" I created two years ago... my quest for the magic bullet fly continues.

The LRO online store shows the specialty hook I need so I will call them now.

I think when we start adding "moral" implications to the type of fly/bait/lure we throw at the fish, we add to the (sometimes real) myth of the snobby fly fisherman. If it's legal and you like it, and it catches fish - who cares? Those things will catch trout. So will crappie jigs and Rapala's ( single hook regs in most places, so watch it if you try that). So will crickets and worms and "flies" made of the filter of a found cigarette butt! (don't ask.)

As long as you're fishing within the law, I don't see the need to worry about any other moral issues. It's fly fishing. It's supposed to be fun. Or catch you dinner. Or both.

When I first started bringing my son to the Park he was too small to effectively fly fish but he could handle a small UL spinning outfit. He first started using these "magnets" in place of a nymph below a split shot. The fish killed them and this was able to keep him interested in fishing up there until he caught his first trout on a fly. Closest thing I have seen to these is a bead head green weenie with an extended tail...come in the same colors and act similar in the water....have often wondered what one of the magnets would do if fished on just an extend hook with no weight.

A couple years ago while recovering from a total right foot re-build I had lotsa time to think about tying flies... and dream of moving from Maine to HERE.

After five months in traction and reading a ton of magazines I finally asked my wife to bring my tyoing stuff to my bed and tied in bed for weeks. Fortunately she slept in a different room those several months because the bed was full of snippets, feather. fur etc..... But I was happy to be doing anything.

Well; I had a ****ton of size 4 kink shank hooks that I had misordered years prior and got thinking about what I might do with them.

MY RECIPE for a my magic bullet:

BTW... Daniel at LRO hooked me up with some size 8 kinkshanks the other day so now I can down size the original fly a bit.

Don't laugh now but I put a tungsten cone head on the kinkshank size 4 hook and centered the bead in the kink with the hook inverted in the vise.... this lowers the center of gravity causing the fly to ride point up & less likely to snag bottom.

On the size 8 kinks I'm using tungsten beads that ride in the kink.

Then I tie fuschia, green, white or other color ESTAZ ONTO THE SHANK about 1/3 up the bend with inverted hook in vise and run it up to the bead or cone and tie off.

Retie ESTAZ in front of bead and wind to 1/8 inch behind the eye and tie off.

THEN I get a bunny strip (zonkah) and pierce through enough to make a tail that hangs off the bend about 3/8 to 1/2 or longer and pull it forward over the BOTTOM of the hook which is inverted covering the estaz and bead and tie off behind the eye.

****ation I wish I knew how to post pictures here but I had a brain injury many years ago and computers drive me nuts.

Anyway this thing swims so seductively that fish seem to attack it! The first day I could barely walk in May 2010 I hitched one onto a 7 weight and went down the road to the lake... first cast hooked huge pike from shore, say good bye it was 3x! Within half an hour I broke off several more and land a couple.

Since then I've caught all kinds of stuff on it. Browns, smb, redeye and now that I'm doing it in trout magnate size I think I will catch more trout on it than I did on the size 4. I like white estaz with white bunny but the white bunny with fuschia estaz seems to be the killer.

Anyway; I will see if my wife can figure out how to post pictures for me.

Was reading Geirach last evening - laughed out loud when he described his friend slaying the fish with a large Pistol Pete in a private stream and another angler's shock.

Now for you Pistol Pete Purists, is it morally better to wear a hoodie or mash the barb of this fine lure to prevent gaining new ear jewelry?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Owl

I think when we start adding "moral" implications to the type of fly/bait/lure we throw at the fish, we add to the (sometimes real) myth of the snobby fly fisherman. If it's legal and you like it, and it catches fish - who cares? Those things will catch trout. So will crappie jigs and Rapala's ( single hook regs in most places, so watch it if you try that). So will crickets and worms and "flies" made of the filter of a found cigarette butt! (don't ask.)

As long as you're fishing within the law, I don't see the need to worry about any other moral issues. It's fly fishing. It's supposed to be fun. Or catch you dinner. Or both.

I will tie my version on the same size hooks, tie a marabou tail and then wrap the body with the remaining marabou and tie off behind a cone head likely no palmered hackle..... this I think would be the feather equivalent of the rubbah trout magnate.

Anyone familiar with these?

The marabou fly you are describing (or something close to it) is one of my best flies on warm tailwaters where stripers, white bass, and hybrids live. I've caught so many different species on this fly. I just wrap a lot of lead, cover it with thread and/or dubbing, tie in the marabou tail as you describe and wrap the rest of the marabou forward to the eye and tie off. Not sure why, but on days when absolutely nothing else will work, this simple little fly works wonders. I tie it on a fairly short hook in size 6.

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"Then He said to them, 'Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.'" Matthew 4:19